‘I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets’

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has given a lesson of responsibility in high politics and diplomacy that you may wish to instill in your students ethical behavior in the modern and fast age of technology and social media.

You may ask what does that have to do with my class?
Well, good behavior and respect of high responsibility have a lot to do with your students prospective careers.

Let leave to Emmanuel Macron and Donald trump what belongs to Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump to deal with between themselves. Instead, let just recall how the weak strongman uses Facebook to rule Cambodia, to brag about his millions “like”, to disparage people he doesn’t like, and also to raise wager with his nemesis!

Your students should bear in mind that:
– the country has scales of laws and regulations (whether or not voted and implemented by the kangaroos!)
– the prime minister is the head of the government composed of ministers (sycophantic or otherwise!) to run the ministries;
– the government has ambassadors accredited to various world capitals, and
– the government has administrative procedures and mechanism to ensure that governmental decisions are passed on hierarchically for smooth implementation.

In a very simple term, if the weak strongman uses his Facebook account to dictate his wimp, why should there be ministers and all those useless officials or ministries? why should there be national assembly? why should there be courts and tribunals? why should there be ambassadors?
Why not then abolishing the whole concept of the three branches of power and just having a big screen with the weak strongman sitting in front of the screen and belting out any stupidity that crosses his mind?

In international diplomacy and official dealings, who on earth outside Cambodia cares about what the weak strongman says or writes in Khmer in his Facebook account? Do world leaders at the UN, the EU, the IPU, or the ASEAN, etc … pay any attention to what the weak strongman says or writes in Khmer about his justification of the sham election for one-party state, of the death of democracy and the abuse and violation of human rights and freedom of association? No, no, and no.

Your students are clever enough to understand that you, Kacvey, don’t care about what they think or write in their Facebook account, and that you only accept home works or term papers either in hard copy or through email from them directly submitted to you. None of your student should never argue that: “But, professor Kacvey, I wrote my dissertation on my Facebook!”

To which you laughingly respond: “I do not correct your Facebook paper!”